What is the maximum time and minimum time it takes forcommunication from the spa

Question

What is the maximum time and minimum time it takes forcommunication from the space shuttle to reach the Director of NASAwho is seated 20 meters away from the communication radio atMission Contral at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, TX. You may assume the room temperature at the Center is 20 C. (Look up the distances and speeds involved). speeds i know: 343 m/s (velocity of sound in air) andspeed of light Besides the 20m, do i need a second distance? this is whereI'm stuck. What is the maximum time and minimum time it takes forcommunication from the space shuttle to reach the Director of NASAwho is seated 20 meters away from the communication radio atMission Contral at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, TX. You may assume the room temperature at the Center is 20 C. (Look up the distances and speeds involved). speeds i know: 343 m/s (velocity of sound in air) andspeed of light Besides the 20m, do i need a second distance? this is whereI'm stuck.

Explanation / Answer

The first is from the shuttle to the earth, which will beconstant. You need to pick a typical distance of orbit, whichcan vary from about 100 miles up to about 300 miles. This isa radio link at the speed of light.
The second is the time to get the signal from the groundstation to the director. At a minimum, the radio receiver isin the same room as he is, so this distance is zero. At amaximum, the station is on the opposite side of the earth. You could get really specific and try to find the locationsof shuttle link stations, but I don't think that is the idea. In general the longest distance is if the earth station isexactly on the opposite side of the earth from the director, adistance of about 12,000 miles, 1/2 the circumference of the earth. (check this number on the web.) There is another assumptionhere, that the path from the earth station to the director isstraight line, which really isn't going to be the case. But,I would assume direct line and figure out the delay based on that.  

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